I just had an amazing 2 weeks. My time here keeps getting better; i don't know when it will stop getting better, but it has to sometime. until then, I'm going to keep loving it. my host family was so great. My family was Elizabeth (my mom, who we call Mamani), Moses (Papa), Tshego (Their daughter in law; her husband Steve was away for work), Otto(17 yr old granddaughter to mamani and papa), Brian (9yr old son of Tshego and steve), Tshe Tshe (5 yr old grandson of mamani and papa), and Jimmy (2 yr old son of Tshego and Steve). I got the closest to Tshego. We cooked dinner together almost every night, and bonded really well. The whole family was a lot of fun though. They speak very good English, but they speak setswana to each other and only spoke english to me. They taught me quite a bit of Setswana though. We took setswana classes almost every day for 4-5 hours. Hopefully it will start to sink in more as we slow down the intensity of learning; sometimes I just felt overloaded with new vocab and grammer. It's overall not a really difficult language though.
My family taught me a lot about traditional Tswana culture, especially with foods, and i definitely got to see a lot of culture. Kids are definitely raised to serve their elders, much more than what I'm used to. And women work much more in the home than men. Usually the only responsibility men have is work (sometimes) and cattle, while the women do everything else. It's also really interesting how raising children works. 2 of the kids in my family don't live with their parents even though their siblings do, but that's just how it works there. Extended families live together much more than in the US. And there really isn't a cultural norm against having children out of wedlock or from multiple fathers; it's completely acceptable. There are also many households where none of the residents have an income but there are maybe one or two relatives who work in gabs and their income supports the family. it's really interesting to see the differences in how families are run.
i'm looking forward to eating some different food though. They don't eat a lot of variety, but they eat so much food. i never went hungry. Dinner is always a huge pile of pap ( a maize product), rice, or pasta with a small portion of some meat dish, and usually a cold salad or vegetable. They use a lot of oil ehre too. i was craving some fresh fruits and vegetables the whole week. Last weekend though i made stir fry for my family, which was really good to me because it was familiar, and they loved it too. So it will be nice to be on my own for lunches in the next 2 weeks when i'm at my next homestay in Gaborone. We also had tea usually 3 times a day at my house. They really like their tea. I can't blame them though; it's really good.
We also got to go out on excursion once back to mokolodi where we went Rhino tracking and got probably within 60 or 70 feet of them and we went to see their 2 cheetahs who are tame so you can even touch them. They didn't come close enough to me though so i didn't get to touch them but it was really neat to be so close.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Sunday, February 10, 2008
FYI
Mostly I just want to let you know that i don't know if I'll have internet access for the next 2 weeks. We're doing a village homestay, and I don't think we'll have any internet, nor will we probably go back to Gabs at all.
On a few other notes of interest...
I have come to significantly appreciate the magic of a washing machine. There aren't really many washing machines in Botswana, so we have to wash everything by hand. I don't know how a washing machine does such a good job. Especially on socks. They get dirty, and it's really hard to get them clean, in case any of you were wondering. I'm glad I could clear that up for you. It's also really hard to rinse all the soap out of things. So the next time you do laudry, appreciate it:) Props to whoever came up with the magical washing machine.
Last night we went out to dinner as a group to a South African restaurant and I witnessed a really disturbing exchange between the manager and his employees. The manager is a white South African, and his employees were all black Batswana. He was pushing them around so much, literally pulling them physically by the arm to get them to do things when they weren't being disrespectful at all. It was definitely what I would consider to be abuse. I was really surprised to see this. I don't even remember seeing exchanges like this when I was in SA last may. According to KB, a student ambassador sort of person who just started working for SIT, this is not uncommon to see. And if people were to say something, it really doesn't make much of a difference. Customer service is not the same as in the US, and the manager probably would have just told us that we didn't need to come to his restaurant if we didn't like what we were seeing.
On a few other notes of interest...
I have come to significantly appreciate the magic of a washing machine. There aren't really many washing machines in Botswana, so we have to wash everything by hand. I don't know how a washing machine does such a good job. Especially on socks. They get dirty, and it's really hard to get them clean, in case any of you were wondering. I'm glad I could clear that up for you. It's also really hard to rinse all the soap out of things. So the next time you do laudry, appreciate it:) Props to whoever came up with the magical washing machine.
Last night we went out to dinner as a group to a South African restaurant and I witnessed a really disturbing exchange between the manager and his employees. The manager is a white South African, and his employees were all black Batswana. He was pushing them around so much, literally pulling them physically by the arm to get them to do things when they weren't being disrespectful at all. It was definitely what I would consider to be abuse. I was really surprised to see this. I don't even remember seeing exchanges like this when I was in SA last may. According to KB, a student ambassador sort of person who just started working for SIT, this is not uncommon to see. And if people were to say something, it really doesn't make much of a difference. Customer service is not the same as in the US, and the manager probably would have just told us that we didn't need to come to his restaurant if we didn't like what we were seeing.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Best day
Hi! Yesterday was definitely my best day here so far. We did the village drop-off and had so much fun. I was in a group of 4 who went to a village about 45 min. outside of Gaborone. It was actually a lot larger than any of us expected. We first went to the pottery, which is sort of the tourist attraction of the village. Sure enough we ran into 3 people from texas there. They have been coming here every few weeks for the past year because they work with a diamond company in Botswana. It was sort of upsetting though because when we were speaking the little setswana we know with the employee at the pottery, they said they were so impressed, and we knew more setswana than they did. Seriously, it makes such a difference when you're a visitor and you make an effort to know the native language. People are so much more welcoming, and I even felt offended that they weren't even making an effort to know how to say hello, especially wheen they are such frequent visitors to Botswana. I can't imagine how offended Batswana (natives of Botswana) feel. But you can get away with only speaking english because most people do, so a lot of times people just think it's acceptable to not make any effort. But anyway, the pottery was really beautiful and had traditional designs on it. We even got a tour of where they make the pottery.
We met a young woman at the pottery who works for the village daycare who was so incredible. She ended up spending probably an hour and 1/2 with us. She told us the history of the village and helped us with our Setswana a lot. People really love to help us learn the language. They are so amazed that we are even trying to learn it, and even though we often have trouble pronouncing words and quickly forget how to say phrases, they are so warm-hearted and generous.
We ate lunch at the "restaurant" which was sort of just a kitchen with pre-made food. I had pap (a starchy food like grits) and beef, with beets and coleslaw. It was so much food none of us finished, and it only cost P11.00 which is less than $2.00. Crazy. We met another woman later who also loved talking to us and helping us with Setswana. She was pretty funny. She was amazed that we were all 20 and 21 years old and had no children. Yikes! Let's keep it that way. Although she's convinced that Peter, someone in our group, is going to get married in Kasane, a city in northern Botswana:) She also gave each of us setswana names, 3 of which mean thank you. I think she chose that because we kept getting confused about when we use each form of thank you. My name is Ke itsumetse. On that note, a lot of times when I introduced myself to people, they would break out in laughter or at least giggle a little bit. We couldn't figure it out and asked Matts, our setswana teacher, when we got back. he decided it must be because Katie (spelling?) is a common Setswana name, so they thought I must have a setswana name.
We also got to talk to a lot of school kids. They were so funny. They love talking to white people and had so much fun teaching us words. They walked with us for probably about45 min. and finally we realized that they walked past their homes to stay with us.
On the white person note, it's sort of awkward sometimes. People will blatantly stare at us, especially when we're in a large group. It feels really awkward sometimes, sort of moreso in the city because in the village people are especially friendly and really want to talk with us. In the city, we're just a bunch of faces that stick out. It helps as we get to know the city better though because we can look more confident, like we belong there and know exactly what we're doing.
Ok, I think that's about all I have for now. Bye!
We met a young woman at the pottery who works for the village daycare who was so incredible. She ended up spending probably an hour and 1/2 with us. She told us the history of the village and helped us with our Setswana a lot. People really love to help us learn the language. They are so amazed that we are even trying to learn it, and even though we often have trouble pronouncing words and quickly forget how to say phrases, they are so warm-hearted and generous.
We ate lunch at the "restaurant" which was sort of just a kitchen with pre-made food. I had pap (a starchy food like grits) and beef, with beets and coleslaw. It was so much food none of us finished, and it only cost P11.00 which is less than $2.00. Crazy. We met another woman later who also loved talking to us and helping us with Setswana. She was pretty funny. She was amazed that we were all 20 and 21 years old and had no children. Yikes! Let's keep it that way. Although she's convinced that Peter, someone in our group, is going to get married in Kasane, a city in northern Botswana:) She also gave each of us setswana names, 3 of which mean thank you. I think she chose that because we kept getting confused about when we use each form of thank you. My name is Ke itsumetse. On that note, a lot of times when I introduced myself to people, they would break out in laughter or at least giggle a little bit. We couldn't figure it out and asked Matts, our setswana teacher, when we got back. he decided it must be because Katie (spelling?) is a common Setswana name, so they thought I must have a setswana name.
We also got to talk to a lot of school kids. They were so funny. They love talking to white people and had so much fun teaching us words. They walked with us for probably about45 min. and finally we realized that they walked past their homes to stay with us.
On the white person note, it's sort of awkward sometimes. People will blatantly stare at us, especially when we're in a large group. It feels really awkward sometimes, sort of moreso in the city because in the village people are especially friendly and really want to talk with us. In the city, we're just a bunch of faces that stick out. It helps as we get to know the city better though because we can look more confident, like we belong there and know exactly what we're doing.
Ok, I think that's about all I have for now. Bye!
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
I'm here!
Dumela bo-rra le bo-mma! (Hello ladies and gentlemen; basically just hi)
I'm here, I've made it safely and I'm having an amazing time in Botswana. It's such a beautiful country, and I'm really excited for the semester. I met up with some people on my trip right away at the Atlanta airport just by recognition of college-age kids with overstuffed backpacks. So it was fun to meet some of them right away. Our flight was slightly delayed (~1 hr) out of atlanta so when we arrived in Johannesburg, S. Africa our bags didn't get transferred to Gaborone, Botswana:( Most people were able to get their bags the next afternoon, and 4 of us were left waiting. The other 3 came that evening, and mine was still gone, and I didn't know where it was. Finally it came yesterday, thankfully. However, it sort of put things into perspective of how necessary everything really is. The only really irreplaceable things were malaria meds, but everthing else became less important when I lost it, and people in my group were great about letting me borrow things so I could at least shower. And I did happen to have underwear in my carryon :D Good call on my part.
I love my group. There are 15 of us, and we seem so cohesive so far. Everyone is really friendly and we get along wonderfully. Right now we're staying at Mokolodi Game Reserve, which is a ranch-turned game park that is home to a lot of different wildlife. We stay in separate men's and women's dormitories-just a big room with lots of bunk beds. It sort of feels like summer camp. The staff at Mokolodi feed us breakfast, lunch, and dinner, which have all been very good. There's always meat, usually sausage or beef. Breakfast is usually eggs, bacon, sausage, often some beans, toast, cereal. Yesterday we were all surprised when we tasted our cereal to find that the milk was warm. It was sort of hard to get that down, but usually it's cold milk. Lunch and dinner are often meat, noodles, a vegetable (cabbage, squash, mixed veggies, etc). We drink a lot of juice, water, tea and coffee; never milk. They call juice concentrate "squash" so we were all very surprised when Simba (our academic director) told us that the juice was made from squash:)
We've been having class every day, but since it's orientation a lot of what Simba teaches us so far is just what we'll be expecting for classes and cultural tips, etc. Matts is our Setswana teacher. It's pretty intensive, but hopefully we'll start to pick it up. So far I can have a conversation about how I/you are, what your name is, ask where something is, along with a few others. The funniest thing is that none of us can remember how to say "I don't understand" It's a tricky pronunciation so I guess we'll really have to not understand if we're going to go through the effort of saying so.
Mon. we went on a game drive-super great. We saw so many things. The first thing we saw was a rhino, followed by impala, kudu, wildebeast, zebra, giraffe, warthogs, and so many others. Tues. we went on a hike through the park, hwere we learned about the plants, and some other things like termite mounds (actually really interesting), dung beetles, etc. It was a lot of fun.
Right now I'm actually on my "drop off" where we get dropped off in Gabs with 2 other students and have to complete certain tasks, such as what I'm doing now-writing home, making a call, eating lunch, buying something, taking public transportation, etc. We were dropped in the main mall, and we went to the museum, which was fun to learn some natural and cultural Botswana history. Our next task is lunch. Tommorow we have the village drop-off, and the next 2 weeks are our homestay in the Otse village. I wish I could write more, but my internet time is running out. I hope you are all well at home or school!
I'm here, I've made it safely and I'm having an amazing time in Botswana. It's such a beautiful country, and I'm really excited for the semester. I met up with some people on my trip right away at the Atlanta airport just by recognition of college-age kids with overstuffed backpacks. So it was fun to meet some of them right away. Our flight was slightly delayed (~1 hr) out of atlanta so when we arrived in Johannesburg, S. Africa our bags didn't get transferred to Gaborone, Botswana:( Most people were able to get their bags the next afternoon, and 4 of us were left waiting. The other 3 came that evening, and mine was still gone, and I didn't know where it was. Finally it came yesterday, thankfully. However, it sort of put things into perspective of how necessary everything really is. The only really irreplaceable things were malaria meds, but everthing else became less important when I lost it, and people in my group were great about letting me borrow things so I could at least shower. And I did happen to have underwear in my carryon :D Good call on my part.
I love my group. There are 15 of us, and we seem so cohesive so far. Everyone is really friendly and we get along wonderfully. Right now we're staying at Mokolodi Game Reserve, which is a ranch-turned game park that is home to a lot of different wildlife. We stay in separate men's and women's dormitories-just a big room with lots of bunk beds. It sort of feels like summer camp. The staff at Mokolodi feed us breakfast, lunch, and dinner, which have all been very good. There's always meat, usually sausage or beef. Breakfast is usually eggs, bacon, sausage, often some beans, toast, cereal. Yesterday we were all surprised when we tasted our cereal to find that the milk was warm. It was sort of hard to get that down, but usually it's cold milk. Lunch and dinner are often meat, noodles, a vegetable (cabbage, squash, mixed veggies, etc). We drink a lot of juice, water, tea and coffee; never milk. They call juice concentrate "squash" so we were all very surprised when Simba (our academic director) told us that the juice was made from squash:)
We've been having class every day, but since it's orientation a lot of what Simba teaches us so far is just what we'll be expecting for classes and cultural tips, etc. Matts is our Setswana teacher. It's pretty intensive, but hopefully we'll start to pick it up. So far I can have a conversation about how I/you are, what your name is, ask where something is, along with a few others. The funniest thing is that none of us can remember how to say "I don't understand" It's a tricky pronunciation so I guess we'll really have to not understand if we're going to go through the effort of saying so.
Mon. we went on a game drive-super great. We saw so many things. The first thing we saw was a rhino, followed by impala, kudu, wildebeast, zebra, giraffe, warthogs, and so many others. Tues. we went on a hike through the park, hwere we learned about the plants, and some other things like termite mounds (actually really interesting), dung beetles, etc. It was a lot of fun.
Right now I'm actually on my "drop off" where we get dropped off in Gabs with 2 other students and have to complete certain tasks, such as what I'm doing now-writing home, making a call, eating lunch, buying something, taking public transportation, etc. We were dropped in the main mall, and we went to the museum, which was fun to learn some natural and cultural Botswana history. Our next task is lunch. Tommorow we have the village drop-off, and the next 2 weeks are our homestay in the Otse village. I wish I could write more, but my internet time is running out. I hope you are all well at home or school!
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